Rasmalai - Indian recipes

Rasmalai(Veg)

End your Indian meal with these traditional Bengali milk curd dumplings simmered in a rose-scented syrup.

Ingredients

• 800g/1lb 12oz milk curd or ricotta cheese

• 4 tbsp sugar

• ½ tsp ground green cardamom

• pistachios, shelled, chopped, to serve

For the syrup

• 400ml/14fl oz condensed milk

• 400ml/14fl oz milk

• ½ tbsp rosewater

Preparation method

1. To make the dumplings, preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.

2. Mix the milk curd (or ricotta), sugar and cardamom in a bowl. Spread the mixture onto a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes – keep checking the oven so that the milk curd doesn’t burn.

3. Remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool. Form the mixture into dumplings using your hands - about 4cm/1½in long and 2cm/¾in wide. Place the dumplings in a roasting tin with raised sides.

4. To make the milk syrup, preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Pour the condensed milk, normal milk and rosewater into a heavy-based saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes. Do not boil.

5. Pour the syrup over the dumplings. Place the baking tray back in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

6. Leave to cool completely and transfer the dumplings to the fridge for a few hours. Scatter over the chopped pistachios to serve.